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January 15th, 2018 
Awake Goy By Nigel Pennick
Everything in existence can be viewed in several different ways. No one way is more correct than any other, nor more incorrect: it is just that the viewer has his or her own interpretation. Only by understanding and comparing all viewpoints can we come to the most complete understanding possible. This pluralistic way of seeing the world is fundamental to the art of rune-craft, a view that was understood and valued by poets of ancient Northern Europe — the bards of England, the ollambs of Ireland, and the skalds of Scandinavia. These poets made great use of allusions or poetic descriptions called kennings, a term that comes from the verb “to ken,” meaning “to know.”
Kennings can take various forms. They may, for example, be drawn from incidents in history or myth. In the Norse sagas, kennings described gold as “the Seed of Kraki,” “the Plains of Fyris,” “the Otter’s Ransom,” or “Sif’s Hair.” Each of these kennings refers to some famous mythological or historical episode related to gold. More general kennings, such as “the Glory of Elves,” describing the sun, were also used. Yet another sort of kenning is the direct poetic description. A ship becomes “the Sea-plow,” sailing on “the Fishe’s Bath.”
In the Edda, collections of early Icelandic literature, the twelfth-century poem, Alvismal, or “The Lay of Alvis,” tells the story of the dwarf Alvis, whose name means “The All-Wise,” who went to the home of the gods, Asgard, to marry Thrud, one of the daughters of the god Thor. Thor, knowing that dwarves were wise and enjoyed displaying their learning, asked Alvis to describe the 13 most significant things in existence, according to the four viewpoints of humans, gods, giants, and the dwarfish-elven folk. Humans give things literal names, the gods describe how things function, the giants see the world in terms of material resources, while the dwarfs and elves use poetic kennings. Accordingly, said Alvis, trees are just “wood” to humans. To the gods, they are “the shelter of the fields.” The brutal giants view them as “fuel,” while the poetic dwarfs and elves view trees as the “fair limbs, adorners of the hills.” Similarly, Alvis’s kennings for the moon are “mock sun,” “night traveler,” and “month-shower, the whirling wheel.” The wind is “noise-maker,” “wailer,” and “the roaring traveler,” while the clouds are “shower-bringers,” “wind-floes,” and “the helmets of darkness.”
Like kennings, the runes emphasize the correspondences and resemblances that exist between different things. In this way, they bring us fresh ways of looking at the world. They are alternative descriptions of simple things that contain much deeper meanings. As well as recording and entertaining, ancient runic writings make connections between things in the unconscious mind.
Like a kenning, a riddle is an alternative description of an action or object. Riddles present reality in unfamiliar or oblique ways that baffle the hearer, inviting us to uncover a hidden meaning. A well-thought-out riddle can provide a valid and exciting metaphorical description of anything. In his work On Poetry, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote: “The very nature indeed of a riddle is this, to describe a fact in an impossible combination of words (which cannot be done with the real names for things, but can be with their metaphorical substitutes).”
Because they were dealing with alternative realities, the ancient oracles answered questions in riddles. Frequently, their answer were ambiguous and were, as much as a result, often criticized for not giving clear information. But the ancient critics were expecting too much. No oracle or divination can give a direct answer. Their function is not to tell what is inevitable but to provide new insights into the matter in question at present.
Modern thinking dismisses these alternatives and ambiguous ways of describing the world. Instead, we invent new technical terms or jargon in an attempt to define indescribable realities. But the traditional ways have not been superseded. There is still a need for the poetic worldview — a view that is typified by the runes.
In runic, oracular, and other forms of divination, kennings and riddles play an essential role. They are the only way that language can provide new associations to think about. They give voice to areas of consciousness and viewpoints that cannot be expressed in any other way, and offer a means to deal with difficult problems that otherwise might go unresolved.
via Ron McVan
Source Article from http://www.renegadetribune.com/kennings-rituals-oracles/
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